"Flooded Again This Year": Residents Devastated as Heavy Rain Hits; Daegu Issues First Emergency Alert

[Anchor]

Heavy rain has poured down since last night (July 17), primarily in the Seoul metropolitan area and Gangwon Province, leading to a series of damages. While the rain paused during the day, the real critical period begins tonight. With forecasts of over 150mm of rain in some areas by tomorrow, residents are urged to prepare thoroughly.

Bae Seong-jae reports on our top story today.

[Reporter]

Firefighters are using pump trucks to drain the water.

Muddy water, which had risen over roads and fields, has reached the doorsteps of homes.

As 151mm of heavy rain poured over the Deogyang-gu area of Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, early this morning, 16 households in the region suffered flooding damage.

Inside a home where water had risen to ankle height:

Everything on the floor was soaked. Looking inside the room, the bed was also drenched, and drying efforts are currently underway with the mattress placed on a drying rack.

[Resident: The water came up to there, right up to that point. It hurts my heart that this is happening again this year.]

From early yesterday morning until this morning, a "water bomb" of rain fell on the northern Gyeonggi region, with 197.5mm recorded in Paju and 195.5mm in Dongducheon.

Fortunately, there were no casualties despite the heavy rain, but 76 people from 43 households across 13 cities and counties in 6 provinces and cities have temporarily evacuated.

Across the country, 708 cases of property damage have been reported, including flooded homes and roads, rockfalls, and fallen trees.

In the Daegu and Gyeongbuk regions, 170 damage reports were received. In Suseong-gu, Daegu, where 89mm of rain fell per hour last night, the "Emergency Disaster Text for Torrential Rain," newly established this year, was issued for the first time.

Access to 318 streams nationwide and 6 national parks, including Bukhansan and Palgongsan, has been restricted. All ferry services on 6 routes, including Incheon-Baengnyeong and Baengnyeong-Socheong, have been suspended.

The Korea Forest Service raised the landslide crisis alert level for Seoul and Gyeonggi Province from "Caution" to "Alert" starting this morning.

(Video reporting: Kim Han-gyeol | Video editing: Lee So-young | Design: Han Heung-soo)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.